User blog:Pinkguy the b0ss/Super Mario Sunshine Review
What's up my Shreks it's me DiamondMinerStudios, and today (4/24/2018) I just finished my first 120-Shine playthrough of Super Mario Sunshine, so now is the time to write a review while it's still on my mind. Let's not waste any more time with this intro, because I have quite a bit to say about this game. I'll begin with a short history lesson. Once the Nintendo 64 was released with the fantastic Super Mario 64 being its main and bestselling launch title in 1996, Nintendo was quick to begin developing a successor. Early prototypes of the new console, or "Dolphin" as it was then named, incorporated highly experimental motion controls, something that had never been done successfully before. The console was also planned to support 3D imagery, but these were scrapped in favor of a more traditional system. However, the biggest change the Dolphin was going to have was its use of an optical disc media format, something the Playstation, Sega Saturn, and many other consoles had already done. The console was eventually revealed at E3 2000 under its final name, the Nintendo Gamecube. Just like its predecessor, the N64, the Gamecube used a (at the time) powerful CPU and GPU to render 3D polygons, except it was way more powerful than the N64, being able to render in a maximum of 128-bit rather than a maximum of 32 or 64-bit. It also had a much faster clock speed. When the console launched in 2001, there was no main series Mario platformer, but rather a different game called Luigi's Mansion, which was inspired by Ghostbusters in that you use a vacuum to catch ghosts. This disappointed hardcore Nintendo fans, who wanted a Mario platformer to be included in the console's lineup. Luckily for them, a Mario game was on its way. At Spaceworld 2001, a new Mario game was shown off - Super Mario Sunshine. The game was later released in the Summer of 2002 to good reviews. However, later on, once Super Mario Galaxy came out in 2007, most people began to look back at Super Mario Sunshine in an overwhelmingly negative light, calling it "too weird" and "frustrating." This consensus seems to exist to this day, but recently a minority of people have come out in defense of Sunshine. Well, now that that's out of the way, let's get into the main part of the review, my thoughts on the game. Story Presumably right after the events of Super Mario World, Mario, Peach, and the Toads are taking a vacation. They are joined by Toadsworth, an adviser to the Princess. The vacation is at Isle Delfino, a sun-bleached island in the middle of an ocean. However, once they arrive, the airstrip is covered in strange icky goop that is around the whole island. Mario picks up F.L.U.D.D., a robotic "Flash Liquid Ultra Dousing Device" invented by Professor E. Gadd from Luigi's Mansion. Mario is then attacked by a piranha plant, which after defeating it, is confronted by the police. In a court case, Mario is accused of being the one who polluted the island, driving the guardians known as the Shine Sprites away and plunging the island into darkness. After Peach bails him out of jail, Mario put on parole and told to clean the entire island. Eventually, it is revealed that a shadowy Mario-like figure is behind it all, who turns out to be Bowser Jr. He kidnaps Peach, taking her to Bowser (who is hiding in the island's volcano, Corona Mountain). The story is presented through fully voice-acted cutscenes, which don't look the greatest, but I personally like the story ironically. It's quite a fun change of pace from normal Mario storytelling and provides a sufficient justification for why he needs to collect Shines. Despite this though, I still wish there was an option to skip the cutscenes, because they can be quite boring to sit through on repeat playthroughs. Gameplay Obviously, Mario is the playable character. Like Super Mario 64, this game is a collectathon, but it is much more of a "true" collectathon, which basically means that there's a much larger emphasis on collecting things than just completing tasks. This includes Shine Sprites, Blue Coins (which I'll get to soon), F.L.U.D.D.'s nozzles, Red Coins (within certain missions), and Yellow Coins (for 100 coin Shines, again, we'll talk about these in due time). Like Super Mario 64, the levels are open-ended. Unlike that game, however, every single main level is open-ended, all the way from Bianco Hills to Pianta Village. This makes Super Mario Sunshine have better overall level design than Super Mario 64, since despite having half as many levels, they are much more lively, memorable, and more fun to play than its predecessor. The linear level design is also better, which is reserved for secret stages and the final level. These are some of the greatest linear levels in all 3D Mario history, being fast-paced and challenging highlights of Sunshine's gameplay. This also doesn't repeat SM64's mistake of making main stages linear and unneccessarily repetitive to fully complete. Next up, the controls. This game has the best control scheme for any game I've ever played. No, I'm not exaggerating, this game has the best movement, handling, and physics of any game I've ever played. As much as I love the control schemes of Super Mario 64, Sonic Adventure 2, Spyro : Year of the Dragon, Banjo-Kazooie, and plenty of 2D platformers, their controls aren't as good as the ones from this game. The jump height, running speed, turning, triple jumps, spin jumps, and my personal two favorite moves, the sideways flip that I like to call the "Sidewinder," and of course, the Spin Jump, all feel outstanding and satisfying to use. If that wasn't enough, we have F.L.U.D.D. This thing is a literal game changer for the 3D Mario series. All three of the nozzles are fun to use, but the Hover Nozzle works so perfectly that the other two are mostly useful for their specfic tasks, similarly to the caps in SM64. Adding on to this point, the camera controls are also great. Everyone seems to complain about the camera in this game, which is shocking considering the more obtuse camera from the last game. I strongly disagree with this point, and I contest that this game has the best camera control in the whole franchise. They were the first analog camera controls in the 3D Mario series, and they feel just right. Sure, some prefer pre-set angles like in Super Mario 3D World, but having full control over the camera is definitely something I personally favor. This being said, the camera does hiccup on occasion, sometimes getting caught on or being obscured by the scenery, or automatically moving to an unhelpful angle, but these instances are very few and far between and are nowhere near as bad as online complaints will have you believe. Unfortunately though, just like Super Mario 64, the controls are imperfect. Swimming is a bit slow and sluggish, which can be a bit annoying on a few blue coins, unlike SM64's excellent swimming controls. However, while slow, the swimming controls at least work well enough. The sections where you go underwater with the hover nozzle in Noki Bay has the slow-turning tank controls of the on-land hover nozzle, with the turning feeling a bit too slow. However, the controls for this are once again still functional. Also, you only have to do this for 3 out of 120 shines and four out of 240 blue coins, so I don't find this to be a dealbreaker. The worst control scheme in the game is the mudboat, and even then, it's not so bad if you take it slow and steady. The mudboat never goes in the direction you want it to when steering, sometimes going either left or right when spraying to the right, for example. It doesn't work very well, but the only time this is required to be done is in Corona Mountain, and very briefly at that. Everybody on the internet claims that the mudboat is the worst thing ever, but I can't bring myself to agree with this. The Shine Sprites'' and Blue Coins are also constantly seen as frustrating to go after. While I agree that some can be annoying to get, this claim that many Shines and all of the Blue Coins are bad doesn't hold much water in my opinion (pun definitely intended). The Shines are extremely fun to go after, and I personally think that the Blue Coins are a very enjoyable sidequest. Sure, some Blue Coins are obscure, and one Shine in particular is very poorly designed (*cough* Pachinko *cough*), but overall, I liked going for all of the Shines and Blue Coins. This is yet another case where the internet has made a mountain out of a molehill. One more quick point to address - the Shines still kick you out of a stage. This wasn't that bad in Super Mario 64, but it was handled way better in this game. The stage layout changes between Shines, so this design choice makes more sense as each level has an onging story. The only thing that makes less sense is that 100 coin Shines ''do kick you out, while the 100 coins stars in SM64 didn't. I always found that somewhat strange, but it doesn't really bother me that much. Difficulty This is definitely a challenging 3D Mario game, at least comparitively. It's not punishingly difficult, but certainly a bit harder than Super Mario 64. It's based on skill through the mastery of simple mechanics, rather than cheap game design, which is my favorite kind of challenge. Everybody seems to think that this game is super frustrating and unfair, especially when going after 100% completion. As for me, I actually think this game has one of the easiest and least frustrating full-completion experiences for any 3D platformer. Sure there are games where 100% is easier - most notably Super Mario 64, Spyro 2, and Spyro 3 - but this game really isn't that much harder to fully complete than those. In addition, there are plenty of games where full completion is either frustrating bullshit but possible, or nigh-impossible. The Crash Bandicoot PS1 games come immediately to mind, specifically the first one. Hell, the Super Mario Galaxy games have way more infuriating full completion experiences than Super Mario Sunshine. I know, that's a VERY bold claim, but it's honestly how I feel. I just don't agree with those who think this game is a chore to fully complete. The bosses are also good. Some of the bosses are repeated in the early game, but most of them, including Phantamanta, Eely Mouth, and King Boo are excellently crafter, interesting fights that are pretty enjoyable. Also, while the final boss fight with Bowser is a bit underwhelming and easy, it's way better than Super Mario 64's final boss since it's not based on that stupid swinging and throwing mechanic. The best thing about Sunshine's difficulty balancing compared to previous games, though, is its ability to save your life count. So, even if you Save and Quit, your life count won't reset, making the lives system better than all the previous games. Overall, the difficulty is very well-designed. Soundtrack This game has a fantastic soundtrack. The songs sound great with CD-quality instrument samples, since the Gamecube has amazing music capabilities. Also, unlike Super Mario 64's soundtrack, there is a dedicated song for each of the main stages, alongside multiple songs for secret stages, bosses, and various timed events. It's not the absolute best Mario soundtrack, but I think it is excellent and fits the tropical theme of the game very well. Graphics The graphics in this game are gorgeous. They're bright, colorful, and appealing, and still great by today's standards. SM64 looked good, but still showed its age at places. In stark contrast, Sunshine hasn't aged a day, considering how it looks better than most modern indie games and even some AAA titles with its immense amount of color. It even supports the Gamecube's 480p progressive scan mode, making the visuals still look great on a modern flatscreen. This is easily the best-looking 6th-gen game I've yet seen, and one of my favorite-looking games in general. Conclusion Wow, I really jumped the gun when I said that Super Mario 64 was my favorite Mario game in its review. This game is my actual favorite. Hell, I'll actually be as blunt as to say that this is my favorite game, period. The controls, graphics, bosses, and so much more are improvements over SM64, and 100% completion is a bit more challenging and way more fun. As much as I love Super Mario 64, this game is my favorite, and probably will be even after I complete the other Mario games I own in the coming months. While not exactly perfect, this game is a masterpiece and I fully reccomend it. Once again, you have several options. You can play it on the original Gamecube if you get one or happen to own one already with an original game disc (how I played it), or you can get a Wii, the game disc, and a Gamecube controller since the Wii is backwards compatible with most Gamecube titles. You can even play it on the Wii U with the "Nintendon't" application, so that's just another option you have if you happen to own a Wii U, but not a Gamecube or Wii. If you don't even have a Wii U, you can use the Dolphin emulator with a USB gamecube controller to play it in HD. Whatever you do, play this game. You won't regret it. Have a good day, my Shreks. All I will say is, expect future reviews of several other 3D Mario games. Until then, farewell. Category:Blog posts